Our impact in January

We’re only a few weeks into 2026, and already the 38 Degrees community is racking up huge wins and impact. Scrolling through the news can sometimes feel bleak, as if we’re powerless against those at the top. But this email proves that when we band together, that isn’t true at all.

When we pick ourselves up and stand together, we don’t just make noise. We make real change. This update is packed with victories and moments of impact.

🆔 Victory: BritCard scrapped!

Teaming up with our friends at Big Brother Watch, 180,000 of us demanded the Government ditch plans for a mandatory digital ID card. We refused to let taxpayers foot a £1.8bn bill for a pointless “dystopian” surveillance scheme during a cost of living crisis. The pressure worked: in a major U-turn, the Government dropped the mandatory BritCard. A huge win for our freedom!

🤖 Taking on Elon Musk

When Musk’s “Grok” AI began allowing users to generate horrific deepfake images of women and children, the world was aghast. 80,000 38 Degrees supporters joined a global chorus calling for action. Our protest pushed politicians to speak up, forcing Musk into a rapid U-turn. He’s now promised to stop the bot from producing these abusive images, proving that even tech billionaires have to listen when we stand together.

🏡 Fighting to keep Lancashire care homes open

Back in November, 38 Degrees supporter Jean launched a petition when her local Reform-led council planned to close vital care homes. After months of public outcry, councillors said this month that the homes will not close. We’re not fully celebrating yet though. No formal decision has been made – so we’ll keep watching to ensure they stick to their word and do right by residents and their families.

🍗 Keeping chlorinated chicken off the menu

Donald Trump is threatening to flood our shops with chlorine-washed chicken as part of his new trade deal plans. But we’ve hit back hard. Over 120,000 of us demanded Keir Starmer say NO, and 77,000 called on supermarkets not to stock it. We backed this up with new polling showing 68% of the country agrees with us – using people power and hard data to protect our farmers and our food standards. Now we’ve written to every major supermarket to get a straight answer from each, so watch this space for some exciting next steps!

📺 Holding GB News accountable

In December, GB News aired a fawning interview with Donald Trump where he called climate change a “hoax” and in which the interviewer outright praised a speech he’d delivered, saying she “loved it, it was brilliant”. 65,000 of us decided to draw a line. We delivered a formal complaint to Ofcom demanding an investigation, making it clear that impartiality rules exist for a reason – no matter who’s being interviewed.

📊 Making headlines with hard data

Let’s be honest: spreadsheets might sound dry compared to a stunt. But politicians listen to data – and lately we’ve been making headlines with it. The i splashed our findings that a third of people relied on credit for Christmas, and PoliticsHome covered our proof that the public wants a cap on political cash. We know what our community thinks, but when we use hard numbers to show what the whole country thinks, we force politicians to pay attention to the real issues.

🧡 A powerful movement

38 Degrees supporters have been busy. In fact, we’ve been so busy that in January alone we took 1 MILLION actions together in total! Those are small but powerful acts throughout our busy days to push for the country we want to live in.